Impossible

Hello from Calapan, Oriental Mindoro, Philippines!

Long time no blog! I came back to my folk's home in California for sweet while, but now that I am back in the Philippines with just a moment of computer time, I thought I would send out a quick update. I am sorry I have not figured out to upload pictures on this little netbook yet, but I will try next time!

My sister found a great quote from St Francis of Assisi
"Start by doing what's necessary, then what's possible, and suddenly, you are doing the impossible."

Suddenly... I am.

The Philippines, and the necessity of good safe kind birth care for the women and children here, called me back. God called, and then made it possible for me to be here in the new birth center for two months while the supervising midwife is away back in Canada giving birth to her own child and attending to another of her children needing surgery.
And while I am here, trust me, I am doing what i thought Impossible

I am doing the clinical portion of my midwifery studies while working here too. A student again, while I am also representing our Mercy in Action ministry. I've delivered over a dozen babies these two weeks, been on countless postpartum visits to homes here in the city and miles away in the surrounding farmlands. I have interviewed women before birth and counselled them on good prenatal care, and then attended them at birth and afterbirth. I've cried with a woman after her very premature baby only lived 4 hours after I put it into her arms--the ministry of presence that I pray sent her the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I attended the wake. I have been visiting her everyday,checking the medical needs of her body and praying for her heart--praying with her husband and mother in law too. Between births and emergency transports to the provincial hospital. Sleep IS overrated!

Somehow, Ihave been the one chosen to do these things, alongside my sister Vicki, her family, and the few who come alongside us. The harvest is great...the workers are few. I know that the Lord's hand and the Lord's timing is in this.

So at this season of my life, I am starting a new career. I am a field worker and a Midwife.

Necessary, and actually, not impossible at all.

I pray this finds you, my friends, pursuing that which is called out in you. I am thankful for your thoughts and prayers, and for just any amount that you can send to Mercy In Action this year to make a little life here brighter and lighter for our moms and babies.

Gratefully,
Terri

Website: Mercy In Action

--
www.mercyinaction.org

In the Middle of the End & the Beginning Again

Written 3/31/08 Published 4/31/09 (Waited to download pictures... ;-))

Thank you all for accompanying me on this journey. I am home in
Paso Robles, California and very happy to be able to spend good
time with my parents and my family. My horse & dog too.

And maybe some pregnant women & families will have need of me too!
The last picture that came up is of a little first time family I was able to be with from their pregnancy test through 3 months old! I will miss them.


I cannot say what this year has meant to me. You can imagine.
Or ask me in a little while, when I have prayed and processed it.

In the meanwhile, when people ask me if I am home for good?
I came up with the answer: As good as I can be!
I might add: And that good is only with the help of our Good Lord!

My new website is: http://www.blessedchildbirth.com
Thanks to Scott Penwell for the Web Design & Patience!

Mercy In Action continues to minister to women and babies in the
Philippines, through the hands of our partners there.
Vicki and Scott are administering the programs from the
States while they too are spending valuable time with family.

If you have caught their vision for helping these poor, either by
wanting to go help in person or by helping monetarily, you
can always catch up with Mercy In Action on their website:
http://www.mercyinaction.com

Baby items or prenatal vitamins may be sent directly to:
Mercy In Action
c/o Ruel Foundation

Brgy. Masipit

Calapan City 5200

Oriental Mindoro, Philippines

Please advise us if you have sent something, so that we
can acknowledge it and track it to make sure it arrives!
My email is gotmercy@gmail.com
or Mercy In Action at mercymissions@gmail.com


Thank you so much! Thank you for reading; I am done writing for now, but not done praying!
Because I am here. Hopefully, for "good"!

Thank you for praying too!

Blessings,
Terri

"Never tell your neighbors to wait until tomorrow if you can help them now"
Proverbs 3:28 TEV).

"Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can." John Wesley

From Babes to Babies

Mosmira gave birth to a beautiful little girl this week. Johainna is a blessing to her. They live in a simple concrete house with several other families, and they make a living sewing sari wraps for tourists. They are of Muslim faith. And Johainna was given some birthday gifts which touched the heart of her mother and father so very very much.

Her baby was blessed by the gifts of two little girls across the ocean and living in fairly remote areas of California. They are surrounded by livestock and I think their parents make a simple living and work hard too. They are Christian.

Lexie gave up her very own pink and blue and white handmade baby afghan blanket to send to the babies here. Her mom Rachel brought it to a branding to send with me for the next baby born in the Philippines at the Mercy In Action Birth Center. It was Lexie's 10th birthday that very day.

And Jaycee, 6 years old, sewed a flannel blanket with animals and a beautiful purple satin binding to give to a little baby here. She and her mom Kelly have been talking about the babies since they heard me speak on Mercy In Action at church. And she has a new baby sister at her own home!

So now Johainna has two new blankets and a pink hat that was knitted by another wonderful woman from our church who just came up to me on my last day in California and gave hats.

I am humbled by all of you. By the women's groups who gather and make blankets and hats and gather up clothes and vitamins. By each of you who talk of this ministry and pray for us.

But I am especially humbled and touched by the gifts of the children.

Blessed are those who are pure in heart!

Islands & Orphanages

Lived it on 2/15 but Posted on 3/4/09!

I came back to the Philippine Islands. I was in California for but 5 weeks andhave been back here for 2 weeks. Time has a crazy way of not behaving!

Mercy In Action is starting a new clinic in Calapan City, alongside of an orphanage run by the Ruel Foundation, good friends of ours. We visited on our way back to Puerto Galera. This involved another boat ride where I took picture #1, and visiting with the orphans who are great fun to play and work up a sweat with, but who then freeze when they see the camera.

You can see how healthy they look. And yet in the other picture, can you see the tiny skinny baby Director Pauline is holding? He weighs just 4100g, or 9.04 pounds, and is EIGHTEEN MONTHS OLD. So little Bertie is now on a feeding program to safely bring him up to weight and
is held and loved alot. I am sure the healthy little kids I am holding came to Ruel in the same condition....and the baby girl Nicole Vicki is holding is a child whose brave teenage mother carried to term in spite of the fact that she was conceived because of rape. Nicole is now cared for--and it is a tragedy that so many many birth defects and abandonments happen here, and yet redeemed because people care enough to care for them now and work toward adoption into families who have the heart and means to care for them as well.

So as the sun goes down on Tamaraw, my favorite beach here, please continue to pray for us as we finish our work in White Beach, start anew in Calapan City, and maintain our support of the small dear clinics in the Manila slums.

Yes, thank you for your prayers as we gladly pray for you!

Thank You to Our 2008 Supporters!

From Vicki & Scott Penwell, Mercy In Action (reprinted with permission)

Dear Supporters,

A great big Thank You for your generous support of the programs of Mercy In Action in the Philippines . We could not provide health care, food, and other ministry to the poor without your partnership with us.

In 2008 your donations helped us to do the following:

156 babies were delivered free of charge in our Birth Center in rural Mindoro
65 babies were delivered free of charge in our Birth Centers in urban Manila
We provided hundreds of prenatal exams and baby check-ups
A hat was provided to send home with every newborn
We led a feeding program for malnourished school children in a near-by tribal village
5 babies received care or corrective surgery for cleft palette or neural-tube spinal defects
We trained several medical or midwifery interns in our clinics and birth centers
2 widows raising children were given start-up micro-enterprise funding

And there were many, many other things too numerous to count! All the wonderful relationships with people, the small gestures of friendship and support, the prayers and blessings and small financial gifts, and the rich blessing of helping others out of the abundance that God has provided for us. Sincerest thanks for being a part of this work with us here in the Philippines.

Blessings,
Scott and Vicki Penwell

www.BlessedChildBirth.com

Written January 23, 2009

Love. Be Loved. Repeat.

Life is amazing. God as Creator. Jesus as Savior. The Holy Spirit as Guide.

Conception. Pregnancy. Birth. Growth. Repeat.

I think I found out what I want to be when I grow up. Or maybe it has been in the process of my growth up to this point in my life that I have discovered that I love the process of life itself.

Bless. Be Blessed.
I am Blessed.
I want to pass on those Blessings.

So I am announcing the conception of an idea.
A business developing in the womb.
Future potential to be determined
Due Date: April 15, 2009
BlessedChildBirth.com

Haha. Enough of the analogies. I will be back to live full-time in Paso Robles on April 6th. I am announcing online that I am planning to start my own business as a doula and childbirth educator. Along with my ministry of volunteering in the Philippines birth center, which I was of course doing anyway, I managed to get a lot of education and credentials which will allow me to be internationally certified as both a doula and childbirth educator. I would be available to teach about childbirth and choices, and then be on call for births and postpartum help to new parents. I am committed to help women with their birth year: pregnancy through postpartum. I can provide encouragement and information and practical stategies based on my experience and training at 118 births now, and counting! Each was unique and should be....because every birth should be blessed!

Want more information? Click here to go to my new website: http://www.blessedchildbirth.com

God Bless,
Terri

The pictures are of the birth of the blessing who is my granddaughter Maia.
Thank you to Chris and Kate for the gift of her and of the pictures on the website, and my eternal gratitude to my sister Vicki and her family for the opportunity to learn to serve; to "doula", to truly be a servant...To God the Glory!